The Chron­i­cle

BU­L­AWAYO, Thurs­day, Novem­ber 14, 1991 — Civil ser­vants at a govern­ment res­i­den­tial com­plex in Kezi have to bath in a nearby river and buy their drink­ing wa­ter be­cause their wa­ter sup­plies were cut off by the Min­istry of En­ergy and Wa­ter Re­sources and Devel­op­ment two weeks ago.

The res­i­dents com­plained that they were now re­sort­ing to get­ting their wa­ter from the nearby Mwewe River. Some of the res­i­dents said they were ask­ing for wa­ter from their neigh­bours or buy­ing it.

The hous­ing com­plex which used to be un­der the Min­istry of Lo­cal Govern­ment, Ru­ral and Ur­ban Devel­op­ment, came un­der the ju­ris­dic­tion of the Min­istry of Pub­lic Con­struc­tion and Na­tional Hous­ing in Novem­ber last year.

The res­i­dents said the prob­lem started just after the trans­fer. They said be­fore Min­istry of Pub­lic Con­struc­tion and Na­tional Hous­ing took over, they were not told where to pay their bills. They said they ap­proached the Min­istry of En­ergy and Wa­ter Re­sources and Devel­op­ment but were told by this min­istry that it would only ac­cept pay­ment from the min­istry in charge of the com­plex.

They said their wa­ter sup­plies were first dis­con­nected with­out warn­ing on Oc­to­ber 29. Then they called for a meet­ing with of­fi­cials from the two min­istries con­cerned who told them that there was a debt of $1 910 owing to the Min­istry of En­ergy and Wa­ter Re­sources and Devel­op­ment for wa­ter sup­ply to the com­plex.

After be­ing promised by the Min­istry of Pub­lic Con­struc­tion and Na­tional Hous­ing that some­thing would be done, their wa­ter sup­plies were re­con­nected.

The sup­plies were, how­ever, dis­con­nected again with­out warn­ing, on Mon­day last week. The DA for Kezi, Cde Lancelot Moyo, said the Min­istry of En­ergy and Wa­ter Re­sources and Devel­op­ment had said they would only re­con­nect the wa­ter after the bill had been paid. The res­i­dents were ask­ing for a break­down of the bill so that each fam­ily could know how much it had to pay.

“We are afraid there might be out­break of di­ar­rhoea if noth­ing is done about this prob­lem”, said one of the res­i­dents.